children – Page 2 – Peaceful Reader

Joys

{made-with-love oatmeal}

Much of being a parent is really difficult. I’ve always said the good, the true joy of being a parent, outweighs all the negative that can and often does happen. This applies to my family completely. We’ve had struggles (key the amen choir) and some times it can be days before true JOY shows it’s pretty head.

My son turns 22 at the end of this month. Shocking-YES. My stepdaughter turned 25 a few days ago. It’s a big birthday month. I received my son’s birthday wish list yesterday and low and behold (cue the choir again) THIS meatless cookbook is on his list. If any of you reading have been following along for years this is the kid who insisted we put meat on his plate at the end of middle school. He was working out a lot, playing hard, and felt like our mostly plant-based diet was not filling him up. He was sick and tired of being raised vegetarian.

This outburst from him prompted me to look into sustainable meat which created a whole new food journey for our family. I started buying meat from local farmers and listened to one of my food heroes Barbara Kingsolver. In Animal, Vegetable, Miracle she says that at one time the only option was to abstain from meat if you were conscientious about your food choices; now there are options so promoting and purchasing farmer-raised meat is good for us and good for the farmer and ultimately good for the environment. So I’m gently patting myself on the back that my son, even though I know he still enjoys meat once in while, is aware of other eating options. Bravo.

Groovy Girl, who really wishes I could come up with a new blog nickname for her, makes me feel joy often but in particular the other day when her braces-covered-teeth were sore she made the request for me to make my special oatmeal for her breakfast. It was the way she said it like she was 7 again and not 14. I rewarded her with a delicious bowl full and mini ones for my husband and I. Truth be told I don’t do anything that special but I do stir it as it cooks which makes it creamy and at the end I add what ever fruit we have and sprinkles of brown sugar and cinnamon. Made with love.

Groovy Girl (the name is too perfect and she’ll be G.G. until the day the blog ends-sorry babe) and I did FaceTime with oldest daughter on her birthday and that was a highlight of my week. She had been at the musical Groundhog Day in NYC so we talked to her as she walked to the train. NY looked magical with twinkling lights and all the activity around her. I can’t wait to be there this summer with her.

Anton, my former student, living with us as an adopted son now is doing really well. He has a job, has his IA driver’s license, and has made a friend. Right now he is outside helping Greg with some chores. Teaching him to be part of the family is probably the hardest hurdle as that’s not something he’s experienced in the same way many of us think about family dynamics; how we work together and communicate. It is a thrill still to have him here.

Weekly Recipes 7 (The glorious garden edition)

{Groovy Girl and cousin}

Summer is winding down and school looms in the near future. It’s all good. I’m blessed to have a summer off with my kids and my books. Recently I dropped Groovy Girl in Deephaven, MN at the home of my youngest brother, Jason, and his two sons who are similarly aged, 13 and 11. She was to have a week of playing with the cousins in their neighborhood and they were able to do a handful of interesting activities while she was there. Tubing and boating, Valley Fair, and the MN Institue of Art were part of the fun.

While she’s been gone I’ve been alternatally reading, writing, and creating in the kitchen. Having my own fun! I had an armload of freshly cut basil from my mom’s garden and I turned that into several containers worth of pesto.

{Just one jar left}

I also took a few pounds of our tomatoes and turned it into tomato sauce. Last year my mom canned several jars and gave them to me and I loved using the sauce throughout the winter, dumping a jar into soups, chilis, and curries. So this year I’m creating my own jars. I used this recipe to make the sauce and I used this recipe to double check my hot water pack canning method, both from The Kitchn. The sauce is delicious and I look forward to using it during the snowy months to come.

{3 of the 6 jars}

As to the bunches of basil I used a new recipe this year because I’m tired of searching high and low for pine nuts that don’t cost a fortune. My husband found this recipe that uses walnuts and we happened to have a big bag of those already in the kitchen.

Basil-Spinach Pesto with walnuts

1/3 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1 cup packed basil leaves (about 2 ozs)
1 cup packed spinach leaves (about 2 ozs)
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 tsp diced garlic
1/2 tsp kosher sea salt
pinch of red pepper flakes, optional
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Place walnuts on an ungreased baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, about 10 minutes; remove and set aside to cool.

2. In a food processor, combine basil, spinach, walnuts, Parmesan, garlic, salt and red pepper. Cover and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add oil and process until smooth.

3. Store in the refrigerator for up to one week or in the freezer for up to 1 month. Thaw frozen pesto in refrigerator overnight.

This is what I did differently: I did not use spinach. I didn’t have any and so I just used extra basil this time – I had that much. I may try the spinach part next week when I will have another huge batch of basil. I did add my own homemade dried pepper chunks from last year’s garden. My pesto lasts longer in the freezer than this recommendation. Sometimes I’ve left the cheese out to freeze but I’ve found it does not really matter.

I had a pretty big batch made but after using it for an appetizer for a pre-school party and after giving college boy a big container I haven’t frozen any yet. Luckily my mom is bringing me more so I will go through this process again.

What’s coming up in your garden?

Happy Mother's Day!

(Missing one child from far away…)

I hope everyone that is a mother had a wonderful day! Being a mother is truly the hardest job; it comes with a lot of heartache and judgement. My kids are not always happy with me, my ideas, and my suggestions. I want the best for them-always. Even though it is a difficult job I love being a mother and the payback can be amazing.

It’s funny how the day started out as such a humble celebration, it was a way to honor and connect mother’s who sons had fallen in the Civil War and later as a way to promote peace. It’s unfortunate that the holiday became so overly commercialized. I do appreciate the simple things my children do for me. I ‘m happy with a meal together and several hand made cards. Today we went for a walk, out for lunch, and a visit with my own mother. It was a good day. A simple day.

I also made chocolate chip cookie bars for school and folded laundry so it wasn’t like I chilled the whole day. It might be nice to pampered all day. Right now BB is the important event at my house as I write and plan for my day tomorrow.

How ever you spent the day I hope it was relaxing and the focus was more on a shared experience than “stuff”.

The night before Christmas…

and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. I stirred most of the day though.

What a beautiful Christmas Eve day we’ve had here in the Holt household. The kids woke up lazy and late, eating breakfast for lunch. I, on the other hand, had been up since 5 a.m. putting together dough for three loaves of bread, making my last list and checking it twice. I dislike to be all crazy on a holiday yet I didn’t want it to be Christmas Day and not have what I needed for our meal and our, most importantly, mimosas! So I did have a long list of things to do since it was my first day off and even though I’d shopped previously. I blame it on our too small refrigerator.

We’ve done a lot of sharing over this holiday since it is now rare for all 5 of us to be together. Somehow it’s made us more appreciative. The older kids have shared many memories and both said that eating breakfast together on Christmas morn is very special to them. That over opening gifts! That is a happy thought I will savor all through the year.

Tomorrow morning we are having this french toast recipe which I picked just because I could make it in my crock pot. I adore the idea of getting up and having it all ready. We usually only look at Santa gifts and stocking gifts before we eat so this will be perfect. I am also going to cook some bacon (for our meat-loving men) and fried eggs to round out the meal.

(Bon Appetit clam chowder)

Christmas Eve meals have always been special in our house and many times I’ve many lasagna but the last few years we’ve had clam chowder. In my family we always had oyster stew with fresh bread which was so perfect but I married a man who cannot eat oysters so we came around to clams-for some reason clams are okay. I will use this Bon Appetit recipe again -it had excellent flavor and I’m sure it came from the pound of real clams I started with and I was so excited when they all opened. The fresh bread was perfect for dipping and soaking up the broth. I made a double batch and we have just a small amount for leftovers.

Tomorrow we have a hodgepodge of favorites for all types. My husband and son will enjoy a spiral-cut ham (a gift from a friend) and the rest of us will enjoy a variety of veggie dishes + a big salad. Mostly I want to just sit and enjoy my kids as we laugh together, go for a walk, and play board games. I think watching a movie is in the works as well.

Appreciate the love of your family as you celebrate this holiday season! Feliz Navidad.

What a great week, kid-style.

My son sent me this photo last night. He is fishing in Gunnison, Colorado with his grandparents. They always catch and release so no fish was harmed in the taking of this photo. He was thrilled though because this is one of the biggest trout he’s ever caught. His smile says it all.

On the other end of the spectrum Groovy Girl tried a little modeling at a Dillard’s promotion and was picked for her style and her photograph. One of her photos will be blown up and used for in-store promotion in the children’s section and her photo will be sent to corporate offices for another chance to win. She was thrilled to be chosen and almost as thrilled that her prize bank was filled with candy and little trinkets like Hello Kitty tattoos.

Book Club Book + Salad recipe

We recently gathered together on a snowy Monday night and discussed Flight Behavior (2012) by one of my favorite writers, Barbara Kingsolver. Our book club was whittled down to just a hardy few as the weather had taken a turn for the worse mid-afternoon. I braved the cold and the icy roads just to talk about this book but also because I’d made an amazing salad to share. We go potluck at these gatherings and I hadn’t been the only one thinking salad or healthy. We shared a brussels sprout salad, a beet salad, a delicious spinach dip, and a light-tasting 5-flavor pound cake. Our plates were pretty as we sat to discuss the book.

Flight Behavior follows Dellarobia Turnbow as she picks her way through her unhappy marriage. One of the symptoms of her sadness is to seek out small-time crush-worthy men in her rural Tennessee community. At the opening she is headed into the woods to meet up with her latest crush, the telephone man, to see if they want to take things one step further. On the way up the mountain that sits right on her family’s property to meet him she stops to breathe and is overwhelmed by a phenomena~she can’t tell if it is fire but something strange has the mountain top trees all lit up. This oddity gives her pause to change her mind and head back down the mountain away from the sin she was thinking of committing.

Dellarobia is a fascinating character that grows immensely during the course of her story. Kingsolver truly is a master storyteller weaving an array of unique characters into a timely and thought-provoking event. What Dellarobia glimpsed on the mountaintop was Monarch butterflies all come to roost on her husband’s land. The migration of this butterfly swoops through Mexico every year for thousands of years and this year they didn’t make it there.

Today on this bitterly cold day I’m not going to make a crack about how global warming can’t be true as it is freezing outside! We are by our very existence altering the course of our earth by the products we use, clear-cutting whole mountaintops of trees, car emissions, food production, energy, and coal plants. It is taking a toll on our home; our world and this fact comes home to roost for Dellarobia as she watches and learns more about this magnificent butterfly.

I loved the climate conversation this book brings to light but on a more simple note Dellarobia’s relationship with her children takes on a magical quality for me. She begins as a mother who is pained by her son Preston’s constant questioning of the universe, making her slip out the back door for a “secret” smoke. She loves her children at all stages throughout but her appreciation for their natural childish qualities readjusts Dellarobia’s thinking. As the butterflies transform her and remind her of what she can still be she emerges as a mother who stokes her own son’s curiosity fueling it with thoughts, theories, and books to pour over. Dellarobia looks at even the little Cordelia, still in diapers, with new and glowing eyes. Hope has sprung and Dellarobia sees a future for her children and herself.

The book is breath-taking and yet I have other Kingsolver stories that I love more-that’s how talented she is. Read NPR’s review.

The salad:
adapted from Yoga Journal (Feb. 2014)

Feel-Good Quinoa Pilaf

1 cup quinoa
1/2 head radicchio, cored and thinly sliced
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 T extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup dried tart cherries (expensive-could substitute dried cranberries)
1/4 cup pistachios (shelled, of course)
3 T fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

1. Put quinoa in a fine mesh strainer, and rinse well under cold water. In a saucepan, bring two cups of water to a boil over high heat. Add quinoa, and reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until grains are tender and water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Transfer to a large bowl and fluff with a fork to separate grains.

2. Add radicchio, vinegar, olive oil, cherries, pistachios, and parsley to bowl, and stir to mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature. Delicious!

I made a double batch for book club because we have twelve members and since only half of them showed up I had half a bowl left for lunch during the week. My husband tried it and loved it also.

from Yoga Journal “with melatonin-rich dried cherries, pistachios, which contain B-6, and protein-rich quinoa, this easy weeknight pilaf has nutreints to help you sleep soundly, keep your memory sharp, and maintain healthy muscles.”

Book + Salad = healthy humans
Have a peaceful day.

Happy Birthday Groovy Girl!

She’s 11 today! She was a 3 # baby and So full of life! She giggled then just like she does now. She’s a princess, a dancer, a gymnastic, musically-talented, an outdoor girl, a jumping on my furniture girl, a mighty girl who has big dreams for tomorrow and her future. I thank God every day for her bright personality!

We gave her a new bike with gears and hand brakes for her big day. She was thrilled as it has been on her list for awhile.

Birthdays are such a fun time to reminisce about their baby time and their birth story and Groovy Girl never tires of hearing about the day she was born.

Random Recipes + sneaking in some greens

It is pouring rain outside tonight. The television is off and Groovy Girl is off playing somewhere which means there will be a trail and a mess to clean up. How do I help her learn to clean up after herself? This is major life trauma right now. She’s 10 and we’ve made every kind of challenge, chore chart, and list we can think of. We’ve worked with her to show her what it looks like to play and then clean up. I’m glad she plays, I really am; I just which the second part of playing came easier to her.

When we were in New York City in June Groovy Girl, Greg, and I tried a sample of a Mojito Tea (non-alcoholic) that some tea shop was passing out on the street. We loved the zingy flavor and we made a list of what ingredients we thought it might have in it. I have been meaning to whip up a batch of what we thought might be in when I found a recipe in Bon Appetit/August edition that seemed pretty similar to what we thought. I made it tonight with Groovy Girl’s help. It was refreshingly wonderful and I will definitely make it again. It doesn’t have that mojito flavor we were going for yet so close. I may play with it to see if I can get any closer.

(image source)

Here is the recipe:

Honeyed Lemon-Mint Iced Tea

4 cups water

4 bags green or black tea (we used green)

1 bag mint tea

1/2 of a can of 12-oz can frozen lemonade or limeade concentrate, thawed

1/3 cup honey

ice cubes

fresh mint sprigs or leaves

thin lemon slices (we used lime)

1. In a saucepan, bring the water to boiling. Remove from heat. Add tea bags. Cover and let steep for 10 minutes. Discard tea bags. Add lemon or lime concentrate and honey, stirring until honey dissolves. Cool thirty minutes.

2. Transfer tea to a 1 1/2 quart pitcher. Cover and chill for several hours.

3. To serve, pour tea over ice cubes in tall glasses. Garnish with mint and lemon/lime wedges.

Makes 6 servings.

You could easily add a splash (or two) of alcohol to this for an adult beverage. In the heat here, right before the rain came down, we gulped it down as is.

Our garden is beautiful this year with cucumbers just about ready, tomatoes heavy on the vein, basil beginning to bush out, and many zucchinis! Groovy Girl does not like this delicious squash and will do anything to avoid it. Tonight I decided to disguise it in a curry soup. She likes curry!

Also from August edition of Bon Appetit:

Curried Squash Soup

4 servings

Heat 3 T. vegetable oil (I used coconut) over medium high heat. Add two chopped large summer squash, 1 chopped small onion, and 1 tsp of curry (I used 1 T.); season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Cook until tender, 8-10 minutes. Add 4 cups chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until tender, 25-30 minutes. Puree until very smooth. Serve soup warm or chilled, topped with sour cream, cracked pepper, and cilantro sprigs.

When I got to the 3rd paragraph of this I frantically searched for veggie broth paste in my refrigerator and came up empty handed. There were some old beef cubes from a chili recipe my husband made like two years ago but I didn’t want to use them. So I added just water, upped the amount of curry powder, a little more sea salt and pepper and hopped for the best.

I pureed it using my Braun hand-held immersion blender which I adore-I’ve had it for about 12 years and I have no idea what i’m going to do when it stops working. I am pretty positive that the second one I get will not be as good or as inexpensive. This one I bought after watching Emeril use it on his early shows on the Food Network. (I wonder if I should pre-prepare myself by buying this exact replica i found on Etsy)

The soup was not perfect but again I plan on trying it again with good broth and kicking it up a notch or two. Groovy Girl ate about half a bowl with a dollop of sour cream stirred in. She asked me twice what kind of soup it was and I said simply, “curry soup”, which was true. She did not say “Ewwww” or even use the zucchini word so I think I got away with my disguised soup recipe. I think once I play with the recipe she will enjoy it more. She never needs to know the main ingredient is sautéed squash.

I spent the better part of my day reading The Miseducation of Cameron Post by emily m. danforth. I’m half way through and am wowed by her writing. This is the first truly lazzzy day i’ve spent this summer and I’m pretty happy with it. And because I was taking it so easy Groovy Girl stayed in her pajamas for the day. We have a busy rest of the week so it was good to relax.

Life is one big emotional roller coaster…

We’ve been back from our big East Coast trek just two days and now it is time for College Boy to head to the mountains to live! I’ve never experienced this horrible emotion of feeling like my time to fill him up with knowledge is over and he’s now going to be out there on his own, hopefully putting all that he’s picked up to use.

Time flies while you are making dinner, cleaning the house, wiping noses, and working. Oh, there’s been plenty of laughter along the way. It makes me think a little of playing with play-doh; you’re having fun as you mold and shape this intricate human being and then after you look back and think “Hey, he’s turning out pretty good!”-he packs his car up and waves good-bye.

Tomorrow is actually when he drives away. After I have breakfast with him I am going to toddle off to a meeting and try not to cry. Today he’s spent time seeing friends and packing. I bought him a Garmin GPS. It eases my mind to know that something will be there to help him find his way in my absence. It’s a small consolation. It’s his first road trip on his own and we had to talk him into stopping half way across Nebraska, sleeping in a comfortable hotel, before continuing the journey. His young and determined spirit was thinking it would be much better to drive from Iowa to Colorado all in one stretch. I’m thankful he listened to us (?) and agreed to stay overnight. As someone who’s made that trek quite a few times I know it can make you stir crazy and sleepy.

I’ve packed up a box of supplies (toothpaste, yes), some of his favorite foods (crunchy peanut butter, yes) and am in the process of making some dynamite chocolate chip cookies for the road. He laughed at me when I told him I had a supply box for him-I don’t think he’s laughing any more!

It’s going to feel very strange not having him here. He makes me laugh and he is easy to converse with on a wide array of topics. Bless him as he travels and as he settles into his new Colorado life. He’s been waiting 15 years to get back there.

The Pursuit of happiness through cookies.

I recently finished listening to Bruce Feiler’s audio book, The Secrets of Happy Families and thoroughly enjoyed most of it.

Several points that stood out to me was the chore board, the family mission statement, the deep family conversations, and the variety of new ways to connect with your kids and parents. We’ve always held firm to family dinners around our kitchen table and have fascinating conversations about our days which I always believed gave my kids the idea of empathy towards each other and the world as we discuss politics and events. The family dinner is discussed in the book and Bruce agreed that it is important to gather at the table it is even more important what you talk about the table so I’ve worked harder at discussing family history. With two kids at the table I asked if the kids could think of where their grandparents had gone to school; both high school and college. I was happy that every one enjoyed the conversation which was meant to talk about how each family has had good and bad experiences and all survived better for both experiences.

One of the latter chapters talks about bonding through challenges. The example Bruce uses is through an ex-Navy person who now leads people on grueling challenges which creates a bond between participants. I, myself, am NOT up for that challenge but I came up with a small mini-challenge for my own two-Make cookies together! Didn’t you wonder how I was ever going to pull this around to real food?

Our two younger kids are 7 years apart and have very little in common, their words not mine. Groovy Girl is all dance, glitter, AG dolls, Barbies, and drama while College Boy is all slightly sullen, bossy, king-of-his world attitude and they clash like Kronos’ kids. It was just me and the kids looking for something to do together while Dad was off practicing with his bluegrass band. I casually offered the challenge to them as I handed them the recipe which came attached to a recent purchase of canola oil. While I don’t usually use recipes attached to packages this one appeared easy and kid-friendly.

I got the big mixer out for them and walked away. Groovy Girl, bless her heart, knew to get all the ingredients out first. College Boy took control of the mixer after his sister turned it to supersonic speed on her first go. They worked together quiet easily. She measured, cracked, and stirred, then handed each ingredient to him to add to the dough.

As they worked I shot a few photos on my phone and listened to them chatter about other baking experiences with me. Groovy Girl felt bad about a recent baking experience with her and I where she blasted the mixer, letting flour fly all over the kitchen and College Boy recounted a similar experience when he was younger, which made her feel better. They even smiled at each other a few times. Food is a great bridge for people of all kinds, We join with our families, sharing recipes, sharing traditions, exchanging recipes, and loving each moment. I know my children will bring cooking into their own homes, remembering the times they spent with me in the kitchen and at the table.

The cookie recipe they created together:

Brown Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup Crisco Shortening (I know-blech)

1/2 cup (unsalted) butter

1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 large (farm fresh) egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups (unbleached) flour (maybe even a mix of wheat and white)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat shortening, butter, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla in medium bowl of with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Add gradually to creamed mixture, beating on low speed until blended.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place two inches apart on un-greased baking sheet.

Bake 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 4 dozen.

*I wouldn’t cook them until they get golden brown unless you like your cookies crispy. I took several pans out at about 10 minutes because we prefer a softer cookie. Also to the second half of the batch we added chocolate chips as College Boy feels strongly that there is no true purpose for a cookie to exist with out chips in it. I probably won’t make it again, opting to make our regular chocolate chip recipe instead but the experience was worth it.

Enjoy Weekend Cooking at Beth Fish Reads where you will find many food-related posts.